Hausmeister, james
From what I have read of history, it is often the most ruthless against any opposition or criticism, and have the capability to create a narrative that is believed by a good segment of the population that succeed in throwing off an occupying power that is as solidly entrenched as the US is in Turkey. These types often succeed, whereas the nice guys that play by the book, give benefit of the doubt ect, more often than not, get taken down.
Since Erdogan apologized for the SU-27 shootdown, he has at times worked in line with Russian aims in Syria and at times against. Sometimes appearing to work with Russia and Iran in Syria other times against.
Like he is simply charting his own course
Over at the Russia shows off new weapons thread, a few have mentioned the timing of the announcement as killing a number of birds with one stone.
Russia protecting allies from the US is an announcement I have been waiting a few years for, unsure if it would ever come. Perhaps a little incentive here for Erdogan to become an ally of Russia?

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 2 2018 17:42 utc | 104

Dear Peter AU 1 | Mar 2, 2018 11:15:39 AM | 100
There are prime time TV programmes, almost daily on almost every channel. The participants are usually some analysts, historians, journos, politicians and the retired generals of TAF. The TAF guys are the ones who tell the public things TAF officially can’t talk about. The rest represent either the secret service or the political parties they are affiliated with.
We have been getting bombarded with this idea of a possible US-Rus secret agreement behind the doors, day after day for a long time. The source is mainly the retired defense intel generals and the journalists.
I think it’s a perfect representation of our current national mindset. The national security has never been in such grave danger since the founding of the TR. Most speakers on telly think so too. And it has nothing to do with Erdogan scaring people off to make his ends meet. The attack is tangible and the danger is visible to all.
So if you look at things from this point of view, and only then will you understand what Erdogan is trying to do, he is forcing other players to show their cards so that he’ll know which stone he must step on next while he is crossing the river. Nobody knows what’s going on around us and between the major players. Erdogan said a couple of days ago that we’d have to cut our own umbilical cord. The Turks seem to have choosen a simple strategy: We cannot set the game, but we can distrupt it. Look what Turks have been doing? They are being distruptive.
I strongly believe that after the coup attempt the Turks decided to break apart with NATO for good. They are just not sure about the Russians. For the past few weeks, the TV figures were talking about the TR’s entry to NATO. They are now saying that it was a myth that the Russians were about to attack us and that they were coerced into NATO entry thanks to the western agents in the country. Apparently there is no official record of a Russian threat or whatsoever and the NATO guys tricked us into the partnership. The TR-NATO balance sheet is very red on Turks’ part. Time to end NATO partnership but how? Can you trust the Russians? Today Sputnik says Russia promises a better deal and protection for Turkey and her little network of allies (Who are they, the Balkans? N.Cyprus, Azerbijan, Turkic republics, Qatar? Erdogan is travelling around Africa?). So what I picked up with a pair of tweezers for you amongst so much info is, IMHO, a very important one. Again, in my humble opinion.

Posted by: ConfusedPundit | Mar 2 2018 18:18 utc | 106

Jack rabbit the protests were initiated by hardliners in Iran. Also the Rohani administration, on several occasions, confirmed the legitimacy of the protests. Reformists in Iran also backed the protests. I also uploaded a video showing Iranians inside Iran voicing their discontent at the economic situation there. I think you’re a bit too deluded and paranoid, even to the point of supporting dictatorships, when really you should be critical of both the West and their targets. Class society and class rule exists in Iran and people there are not content with clerics, bazaaris and the Guards controlling the country’s wealth and telling them what to do just as people everywhere else are fed up with their national political and economic systems. After all they are all capitalist societies.

Posted by: Ninel | Mar 2 2018 22:33 utc | 108

ninel urges us to overthrow an Islamic dictatorship in Iran and CP urges us to support an Islamist dictator in Turkey. LOL!
ninel is a socialist, who calls for all good socialists to unite behind a popular socialist revolution. CP supports the wannabe Sultan, who has a completely different agenda.
And yet . . . Erdogan is anti-Assad and that implies anti-Iran also – so our articulate newcomers have common ground. How nice.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 3 2018 2:40 utc | 110

Dear Jackrabbit | Mar 2, 2018 9:40:05 PM | 110
“CP urges us to support an Islamist dictator in Turkey”
“CP supports the wannabe Sultan”
I’m not sure why I bother commenting on your remarks because for one thing you fail to correctly deduct as to what kind of a person I am from my posts and I doubt I’ll get anywhere even if I give you explanatory answers just like I am trying to do now. I’ll try to get my point across through the use of infographics, explainer videos and user manuals next time.
I want neither a slave under my foot, nor will accept a master above my head. I’m egalitarian. I have autocontrol. I’ll retract from doing things if there is too much obedience towards authority or if there is any exploitation of others in my social life. I’m not religious. Instead of making women cover their heads, teach the men to behave themselves is the sort of thinking I hold in life. So there is no possibility that I can support an (1) ‘islamist’ (2) ‘dictator’ or sultan for that matter.
If this so called ‘islamist dictator’ picks up rubbish from the pavement and if I pat him on the back, that means I’m supporting him? You are mad.

Posted by: ConfusedPundit | Mar 3 2018 10:03 utc | 112

@ Ninel with his contribution to the discussion…..thanks
I think that your complaint about the lack of class analysis at MoA is a bit misdirected but well intentioned.
Why you are misdirected is because you combine b with his barflies. B provides excellent analysis of the ME and other geopolitical/social issues. AND he provides a forum for international discussion in english. Are you complaining about the subject matter of b’s postings or the textual white noise of us commentariat?
I will assume you are complaining about the depth of understanding by your fellow humans of the anthropological context of our current condition. I share some of that same angst. I encourage you to continue to provide us with historical contextualization of your country and its relationship with the rest of us in the world. Most of what I have seen at MoA is ignorance, not stupidity. We are 8 billion blind humans in a big room with an elephant trying to describe how it operates.
I shudder at the term class because of the Marx stigma and his lack, IMO, of discussion about the underpinnings of Capital. Since we can’t seem to come together with an anthropological contextualized discussion of social tenets, the next best thing is to challenge core structural components causing most of the problems.
And as I repeat here continually, the existence of private finance is the underpinning to that thing you call class and could be dealt with by making all the tools of finance pubic utilities.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 3 2018 17:25 utc | 114